h, together with powder and bullets, and a small case of
tobacco, and then we all went outside, and I locked the door formally,
and handed him the key. He took it, unlocked the door, went inside a few
steps, and then it was locked a second time, the key twisted in one of
his pendant ear-lobes, and the ceremony was over. Then we all trooped
down to the beach together, got into a canoe, and went on board.

[Illustration: Accompanied by thirty or forty canoes 116]

Shaking hands with old Kaibuka and the rest of the natives who swarmed
around us to say farewell, I told Tepi to lift the anchor, and in
another five minutes the little craft began to move through the water
towards the reef, accompanied by thirty or forty canoes and native
boats under sail, all packed with natives of both sexes, shouting their
farewells, and wishing us good fortune.

By sunset we had crossed over the wide, submerged reef, which for twenty
miles runs due north and south on the lee side of Tarawa Lagoon, and
hauling up to the wind just as darkness fell, we soon lost sight of
our island friends, though we could still hear them shouting our
names--"Simi," "Niabon," "Lucia," for some little time after.

The night was dark, but fine, and the light southeasterly breeze sent
us along at about three knots over a very smooth sea. Tepi was standing
for'ard on the lookout, for fear we might run into any fishing canoes
from Taritai, Tematau was busying himself about our miniature galley, my
two women passengers were rearranging their little cabin, and I steered.

"Well, here we are at last, Mrs. Krause ------," I began.

"Lucia, please."

"Here we are at last, Lucia, then. I'm going to run along like this all
night, until we get to the little island at the north end, and then put
these gruntors ashore," and I pointed to half a dozen pigs which were
lying tied up on the deck. They had, with about fifty or sixty fowls,
been presented to us by the natives, and as we should have given great
offence by not accepting them, we had to endure their company for the
present. Then all around us, stowed in every conceivable place, were
bundles of young drinking coco-nuts, husked and unhusked, taking up a
great deal of room, and weighing heavily, and three or four rolls of
sleeping-mats, presented to Niabon, were wedged into the cabin. All
this collection would have to be either got rid of entirely or largely
reduced, so I decided to bring up at the little islet of